Thumb guard



Aug. 16, 1938.

H. 5. PAUL 2,127,421

THUMB UARD Original Filed 001:. 27, 1930 INVENTUR 4 I Harold J. 1%za2, deceased BY 1%! C- Pda'gengaimxkkamkf BY azzmw ATTORNEYS Patented Aug. 16, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE by Paul C. Rodgers,

administrator, Cincinnati,

Ohio, assignor to Josie P. Stacey, Cincinnati,

Ohio

Original application October 27, 1930', Serial No. 491,381. Divided and this application July 23, 1936, Serial No. 92,182

2 Claims.

The invention relates to thumb guards, and particularly to thumb guards adapted to prevent or break up the habit of thumb sucking in children.

This application is a divlsion of the co-pending application, Serial No. 491,381 filed October 27th, 1930, now patent No. 2,068,109.

The several objects to which reference will be made in the ensuing disclosure, are accomplished by that certain construction and arrangement of parts of which a preferred modification is illustrated.

Referring to the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a child's hand showing a guard in position on the thumb.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the type of guard illustrated in Fig. 1.

The body of the guard illustrated is moulded or stamped from metal, celluloid, or other plastic composition, and it has an aperture 2 at the top and a clearance opening 3 for the thumb joint. Eyelets 4 are also provided for attaching the device about the wrist as by a ribbon or tape 5.

Referring to the figures, it will be observed that the medial joint of the thumb, when the guard is properly adjusted on the hand, registers with the opening 3 so that the childs thumb will be free to flex at the medial joint and the hand can be used in a normal manner.

Enough of the thumb does no project through the aperture 2 to allow the child to get any suction on the end of the thumb if he attempts to put the guard in his mouth. The opening 3 permits the knuckle of the thumb to extend through the opening so as not to curtail freedom of bending.

Since the guard is of such light weight and since the freedom of flexing the thumb is in no Way curtailed, a child will not object to wearing the guard as the muscular activity of the hand is in no way constrained.

In sucking the thumb, a child ordinarily bends the thumb back away from the index finger, and it will be noted that the construction of guard which the invention provides not only prevents suction but prevents the thumb from being bent back to the position in which the normal child will place his thumb in order to get it conveniently in his mouth.

Since the hands of children vary considerably in size, it is, of course, Within the realms of mechanical modification to vary the size of the guard and to modify the shape to conform to difierent requirements, but insofar as such modifications and changes employ the principle of a guard in which the thumb is free to flex at the middle joint and not free to extend or bend backward into the thumb-sucking position, such modifications are considered within the scope of this invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. An anti-thumb sucking device comprising a thumb fitting piece integrally molded from sheet material having an aperture at its extremity through which the tip of the thumb may extend and an opening adjacent the knuckle through which the flexed thumb knuckle may protrude.

2. A thumb sucking prevention guard comprising an integral member formed of stiif sheet material and of circular formation to enclose the thumb, means providing clearance for the ball of the thumb, means providing a splint at the nail side of the thumb and providing clearance adapted to permit the free flexing of the thumb knuckle joint, and means forming attachment portions along the sides of the thumb to receive a binding tape.

PAUL C. RODGERS, Administrator of the estate of Harold S. Paul,

deceased. 

